Not so bad here in Utah

We have a lot less snow than we had last year. There are still at least a foot of snow on the lawn, etc. We have better snow plows than in Oregon. At least that is what I think. It is still hard to go on my bike, though.
--David Dougall

White Christmas

Well it definitely looks as if we'll be having a white Chirstmas here in Portland. We've had a week of record snowfall (nearly 16" for those interested in such details) and with the area's excellent road crews, everything has pretty much ground to a halt. The airport has effectively been closed since Saturday. Tri-met has about 25% of it's routes going. The MAX line isn't working in spots because snow is blocking the rails. And today I passed a truck dropping gravel on top of nearly a foot of snow - hmm... don't think that's going to help much.


Schools were canceled for the past week, so the kids are loving their extended three week Christmas break.

Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Christmas!

Oh, Balderdash!

The poor Dougall Family Blog has been a bit neglected as of late. I'm adding my support by posting.

This cartoon was sent to us by Grandpa (dad to most of you). For those of you with really short memories, Rich made reference to "balderdash" in his reunion talent monologue. I can only imagine that grandpa got a pretty good laugh when he found this cartoon - feeling a bit justified maybe?

Thanks for sharing grandpa. Thought I'd pass it along to everyone.

Another Happy Birthday

So Dad has reached a real old age of 63, or something around there. Happy birthday to a great father and grandfather, etc. It is good to see you age so well. I look forward to seeing you soon. Have a great day.
--David Dougall

What about Alison's birthday

Did it just get forgotten? It was last week wasn't it?
--David Dougall

Happy Birthday to David!

It is another special day . . . Today David celebrates his 32nd birthday!! So here's what I've been able to pull from the hard drive . . .

Here's a photo showing toddler David, an independent thinker. David is always proud to work through problems on his own and figure out his own solution. I think that is something we can see in this photo.

I'm thinking he had a small sit & scoot toy at one end of the yard and he needed to figure out a way to get it back to the house. Of course, he could've sat on it and scooted across the yard. There was probably a rope or handle on it so he could drag it across the yard. But instead, he probably did some physics equations to determine the efficiency of dragging the little wheels vs pulling something with larger wheels. In the end, we can see that he concluded that the most efficient method was to load his toy with the small wheels into the wagon which has bigger wheels. Well done, young engineer!

I don't have many recent photos for most siblings, but since David was here in England just a few weeks back, I have plenty of fresh photos. I thought I'd find a few that really showed the strength and endurance that he displayed while he was here. In these two pictures, I guess you can't really see it, so you'll have to let me explain. . . .

This picture is taken in the very north of England. The wall we're standing at is what remains of Hadrians Wall, a 2,000 year old wall built by the Romans to protect the edge of their empire. The wall was built along the top of the hills that roll along the countryside. David did not let his stiff, aching legs stop him from climbing to the top of the hill. At multiple points along the wall he made it his personal quest to climb up to the wall, which was no small feat.

On Sunday afternoon we stopped for lunch along the Bamburgh Castle which sits on a bluff over looking the North Sea. The nice little spot we found to have lunch was in a little patch of sand dune at the bottom of the bluff. David was a real trooper for sticking with us on this one. . . as hiking in the steep sand was not easy for him to do, especially since there are no handrails to hold as you climb down the steep dunes.

David: I think I speak for everyone in the family when I say that you are an amazing example of faith and endurance. You have been through so much, and through it all you maintain a marvelous positive attitude. Here's to a great 33rd year for you! I hope you continue to regain your health and full-mobility in the coming year.

As a lead up to David's birthday, I wanted to post something that I thought he'd get a kick out of. But I also thought this was significant enough for the rest of the family . . .

Does anyone else have fond memories of the families first PC, the compaq? Follow this link and you can see what modern mechanix had to say in their 1983 review of this new machine.

My first memories were the new years eve family extravaganzas when dad would haul it home from the office. Two kids would grab the keyboard & pound at it ferociously in a Friendlyware competition. At the same time five other kids would gather round to gaze into the 9 inch monochrome monitor to follow the action. of course it wasn't all fun & games - John Jr. spent plenty of time on the world's most boring application, the flight simulator, and John Sr. used it for some kind of office work for the 364 other day of the year.

It weighed in at 28 pounds which made it far heavier than I could possibly lift at the time. It seemed massive, but I guess that is only the weight of 5 modern laptops. It had 128k of ram vs a modern laptop which could have 4gb - if I've done the arithmetic right it would take 312,500 compaqs to get the same memory. The best comparison, though, might be the price: $3,600 in 1983 is equivalent to around 10,000 in 2008 dollars. That kind of money could get you quite a machine in 2008.

But i'm sure Dad got his moneys worth out of this thing. Aside from the value it provided at the office, there were hours of good ol' family fun in the early days. After the office upgraded, this became the family's home computer. it was a real work horse for years and years. I'm willing to bet that David kept that thing running until he was in high school. That was the first machine we used to dial onto the internet ("Nobody touch the phone for the next hour! I'm dialling onto Prodigy to find out the weather in Peoria!")

Yes, we easily got our money's worth. I'd say it had a profound impact upon some of the family members. This was Dave's original computer, he might not have become a computer whiz kid if he didn't have the chance to mess around on this thing when he was 7 years old, and if he weren't allow to totally dismantle it at age 17. For me, I spent many hours playing Millionare on that machine - it gave me my first introduction into the world of financial risk & return (I was probably the only ten year old in the area who could explain the difference between a call and a put).

Thanks Dad for being a step ahead of the technology curve. Thanks for bringing home the compaq on New Years Eve.

Happy birthday to Sarah bear

This is such a beautiful day to enjoy the birthday of my middle child. I wish I had a scanned in photo. I can add that later. Thanks for everything Sarah.
OK, this is a little bit older than I would have liked, but it is my cute little Sarah Bear!!!

Happy Birthday to THE TWINS !

Here they are, the birthday girls! Sheri and I thought that in your honor, Emily & Julie, we would draft 27 birthday wishes, etc. But then we realized it would be quite tedious, and perhaps annoying. So if I had one wish then it would be, "A Very Happy Birthday to You From Me!"

There are so many cute pictures of the twins, and I am short on time these days . . . so I'm only picking out two goods ones. The one below in the snow is one we've seen here before, but it's one of my favorites: Mt Hood, in the snow with the little plastic tubs.

By the way, can anyone help me with a little Dougall Birthday trivia - which week has the most birthdays? Would it be early January (Geoff, Rob, Zabie & Sawyer) or mid-June (Emily, Julie, Sarah, & Ty)

Anyone else getting excited for the reunion?

Thought I'd throw up a reminder that we have just a month to go, and I'm getting SO excited!

I thought it might be a good time to post another gem from the past. Here is a family photo that wasn't good enough to be framed and hung in the house. But I'm glad that it still got saved, nonetheless.

You don't have to look too hard to spot that Dad has drifted off to sleep. Top center we see John Jr. beaming with a look that says, "Vote for Me!". Rich is mustering as much effort as he can to act interest - I don't think he could possibly raise his eyebrows any higher. I can't quite read the look that David has in eyes, but the way he is tugging at his baby sister makes it look like he's preparing to yank her from Mom's lap & get her out of the picture. The Dougall girls are obviously much more photogenic - Mom, Heather & Alison all look very natural - Well Done.

Hope you all enjoy this little family shot as much as me. I might try to find the time to post a few more as we approach the reunion.

Announcing the Arrival of the Newest Dougall

The appointed day for the c-section arrived (fortunately with much less drama than our last two kids). We had a beautiful morning stroll through the park to get to the hospital. It was a much quieter hospital than I've ever been to, so we got a fantastic amount of attention from the doctors and staff there. The whole experience went without a single hitch. Some of you may have heard horror stories about the British childbirth experience (courtesy of nationalized medicine), but I have nothing but good things to say about how things went for us today (albeit with private British doctors).

At roughly 11:00am the little one was delivered - a beautiful, healthy baby boy, weighing in at 3.6 kilograms (which I believe is 7lbs 14.5oz). We haven't reached consensus on the name yet, but the chances are very high that he will be named Aiden Thomas Dougall.

Mum & Baby both had a mellow, uneventful afternoon . . .

. . . until an evening visit from the family. Needless to say, his three big brothers couldn't be more thrilled.

Finally - a birthday post for Rich

If I don't finally get this done, it's going to be the twins birthday. So, better late than never. Here are some of the old gems of Richard Perris Dougall!

Rich has some very cute pictures when he was little. This picture not only shows what a sweet little boy he was, but also how he would get all dressed up for sunday mornings back in 1973. By the time 1983 rolled around, the goal on Sunday morning was to just get out of the door at a reasonable time. I don't know if Rob, David or Kathryn ever got all dolled up like this for Sunday.

There are a variety of things that make Rich unique in the family, such as his credentials as a master gardener. His various talents really show through in the old slides. Since he was a talented photographer, a handful of the family pictures in the '80s were taken by him. I recall that one year when he was in high school he took the family photos that made it on to the Christmas mailer. Some of Dad's slides show how he took baseball and basketball to a level higher than his brothers. Below we can see that he took the saxaphone to a higher level than anyone else in the family. He was probably the only one in the family to join the Beavers marching band. Way to go Rich!
Don't forget that he's also a gifted mechanic. He's the only family member to maintain and ride a Honda scooter. How expensive does gas have to get before we can see Rich return to this method of transportation?

Rich was also a fine Boy Scout (as were the rest of the brothers). However, no one else in the family has a super sweet photo from Scout Camp like this:

Happy Birthday Rich! I hope the 40's are kind to you.

Happy Birthday to Rich

Rob is a little belated for now, but I will post a little update saying Happy Barfday to Richard P Dougall. He was sometimes a butt of a brother, but it is good that things have changed so much and we are glad he is our friend.

Happy Birthday to MOM!

And a happy Mother's Day, too!

Here it is again, Mom, Your Special Weekend! If you ever get tired of having your birthday fall on the same weekend as Mothers Day (if you'd prefer to have the attention spread over two different periods) you could always move to England. The Brits have decided to honor their mothers in March.

I'm sorry we couldn't be closer to you, but at least you have a handful of kids & grandkids close enough to make it a special occasion. The best I can do is post my thoughts to this blog, so without further ado . . .

Seeing as these slides are all from dad, I don't have anything of you when you were really young. The earliest picture I could find was developed in June 1962. I'm certain that is Dad in the photo (the thick glasses and slick hair are a dead giveaway), but as I post this picture I'm not 100% certain that he's standing beside his future bride. I mean you guys look so young - Dad looks about the same here as he does in his high school pictures. I would guess that this might be an early date for you two. I'm wondering it was the first time she took that 7 mile long trek south from campus to check out the John B. Dougall stompin' ground in Springville.

Fast forward 25 years. . . here is Mom in Puerto Rico picking up her oldest son at the end of his mission. I want to know how Dad got her to pose as if she were a department store model. The composition is great - the model is surrounded by exotic tropical rainforest, yet leaning against a decidedly urban sign - graffiti tagged and all.

And finally, one of my favorite photos of Mom and kids. I think this is one of Dad's finest early family photos. In this one the family stands at the top of some mountain. (there are recurring themes in Dad's slides: Christmas, birthdays, mountain tops, and rose parade floats) I guess this couldn't be too high a peak, seeing as the three little ones made it, and Mom doesn't look worn out at all or stressed about the kids slipping 1,000 ft off the summit. I like the fashionable clothes of the period (I love the foxy glasses). I also think the kids are really cute (it was before they learned to ham it up in front of Dad's camera).

Of course everyone knows the classic photo that Dad took of Mom is when she was expecting the twins - you know, the one of her in the driveway with the large polynesian dress. But since this blog is essentially open to the public, I thought that one might not be appreciated. It is certain to make it into the reunion slideshow, though. . . .

Well Mom, thanks for all you've done on our behalf. Thanks for the many tireless hours of sacrifice and self-less giving. I hope you know how much we all love you and appreciate all that you've done for us.

Happy Birthday, and Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Belated Birthday to Sheri

Sorry Sheri, I've been out of town so a few days behind on everything. Here's my brief little tribute to you in honor of your birthday. . . .

Because you were born later than the rest of your brothers and sisters you are probably featured in fewer slides and Super 8mm films than everyone else - but on the flip side you're probably featured in more family video footage & digital snapshots than the rest. In scanning through the old slides I don't see that Dad got any pictures at your birthday. Hmmm, well here's what he did captures:

I recall that Sheri loved the pacifier, so this picture seems like the best baby picture we've got.

Your love of the water began early, it looks like you're about to get into the cannonball formation at the motel pool in Utah.

I don't remember Sheri as a horse enthusiast, but aren't all little girls really into ponies. I really have no idea where this was taken, but Sheri looks pretty cool, pretty calm on that big animal.

I don't have any pictures for this, but today is the day to be thankful we have a Sheri Dougall instead of Douglas Dougall. Thank goodness she was a girl... We were all praying for it, but it was nice to hear it on the day she was born.
--David Dougall

It's birthday time again, so let's all give Three Cheers for our big brother John!

Given the nine year age gap between us, I must confess that I don't have a whole lot of insight to contribute here about the nature of our oldest brother when he was young, but I'll share some insights I think we can glean from the family photos. . . . The picture above seems to show pretty clearly that as a teenager he was not lacking in 'Macho'. The picture below shows that he was not lacking in style. Even playing in the backyard as a young boy, he was proud to dress in a classy '70s mod style (even while his siblings were still in their pajamas). If I ever record a ska album, I'd be tempted to lift John out of this photo & drop him on the record cover.

And the trophy he's holding below is evidence that he had skills (I presume this was earned after a piano recital with Ms. Withington).

And, of course, a key trait that's got him where he is today is his hard work & focus. In high school he could shut himself in his bedroom & get so deeply involved in homework, that he couldn't even break his concentration to smile for a photo. (and sorry john, not even a camoflague cap can hide the Perm you've got underneath).

Thanks for all you did to help your younger brothers & sisters, John. Thanks for always being such a great example for us. Have a Very Happy Birthday today!!

Happy Birthday to Heather!

March 3rd is here and that means two things for Heather: (1) she's one day closer to delivering twins, and (2) she is another year older.

Today's photo looks like it was taken for Heathers 7th birthday (it looks like she's standing on the porch of the Tigard house, would that make it the 8th birthday?). I see a couple of similar themes to the Geoff birthday photos that I posted two months ago. First, we see another beautiful cake crafted by mom. Second, the birthday child is in pajamas. It isn't obvious if this picture was taken in the morning (making this a breakfast cake), or later in the day.

Last year was a big year for you, Heather. Good luck with managing all of the challenges (such as your growing family) that lie ahead of you in the next year!

I'm still alive

I am celebrating one year from the dreadful accident in Provo.
I am grateful to be alive. Sheri, Julie and Emily have spent some time here.
--David Dougall

Rob's Hidden Talent

Wow - I had no idea that Rob was so talented. In conjunction with Sheri's desire that we eat a bit healthier this year I couldn't help but post this.

I guess this is what investment bankers do in London - guess that's why he's enjoying it there so much! I'm still curious how Rob was able to keep this secret from all of us for so long.

Rob please bring some of these to the reunion this summer so we all have a greater appreciation for this rare talent of your.